Before Auradon - A Life on the Isle
by KingOfClouds
Summary: Survival and fear go hand in hand. One can't exist without the other; and only one can bring someone to victory. For those who live on the Isle of the Lost this was the first lesson you must learn to get on top. It wasn't ever about surviving, no, not for those that had the intuition and the initiative. Mal, daughter of Maleficent, was one of those people.


_This is a one-shot of a story I might continue. It will take place before any of the events in the first Descendants movie. I've noticed that there isn't a lot of prequel stories which is surprising to me because the second movie made a lot of opportunities for a prequel story. Anyways I would really like to get into this story._

Survival and fear go hand in hand. One can't exist without the other; and only one can bring someone to victory. For those who live on the Isle of the Lost this was the first lesson you must learn to get on top. It wasn't ever about surviving, no, not for those that had the intuition and the initiative. Mal, daughter of Maleficent, was one of those people. This is the story of how she landed on top.

At the promising and grueling age of 14, Mal couldn't ever resist a classic heist. Especially one with such great rewards; well as good as it can get on the Isle. Her and the VKs got a tip about a full load of new loot off a shipwreck that drifted itself right into the magic barrier. This kind of stuff happens once in a lifetime on the island. How did the VKs get such a valuable tip? Why don't we keep just a little mystery in this story, shall we? Though I can say that Evie's alluring charm has never let her down before. Yes she is very valuable person to Mal and assists her quite a lot on her journey. Although that isn't very important right now.

The loot is being held at the docks and carefully guarded. Mal's plan had to work perfectly for them to be able to pull it off. She had faith in her team but, let's be honest, Mal didn't really have any faith in anything. Mal is the type of girl that knows exactly how to manipulate and change people's minds. It's a very useful skill for someone in her position to have. Especially if her heist goes wrong and she'll have to use her skills to talk them all out of getting their asses beaten.

The cold night air wasn't comforting at all as Mal watched over the docks from a nearby roof. Despite being well into the night, the Isle was as alive as ever. She could hear people getting drunk and making terrible decisions, people settling debts, and could even see a few rats in a nearby alley fighting to the death over rotting fish. There was nothing quite like home. Mal lived her whole life in this place, not like she had any other choice, but it was home none the less. She loved it even if it was always disgusting and she could be killed at any given moment. It was exhilarating living in this place. Mal always believed it kept her senses razor sharp.

A quick flash of a knife signaled to her from across the way. It was Jay, son of Jafar, that was hiding in an alley near the guarded loot. Mal knew that signal; it meant the coast was clear for her to hop across the roofs several buildings until she reached the loot. She sprang into action and sprinted for the entrance point into the boat docks so she could quickly let the rest of her team into the building. Jay was a reliable soul. Strange given who his father is. Though he has only showed loyalty towards Mal and the other VKs. He was reliable in a way that Mal could count on him to pull off any task no matter how possible they actually were.

Mal came down onto the roof of the docks, it wasn't a very stable structure so she had to get off fairly quickly. Luckily since the structure was so poorly built, there were a lot of convenient holes in the roof for her to slip through. She landed silently behind some unused shipping crates and looked around at guards on the inside. Whatever that loot was, it was valuable. There were nearly ten people guarding some loot covered by tarps. It was nothing Mal could make out. Her job was simple, clear the room. It didn't matter how she did it. The girl reached into her jacket slowly, being careful not to reveal herself. She pulled out a small bag of chemicals that had a fuse attached to the top. Placing it gently on the ground, Mal took out a lighter from her pocket. She had to be quick before anyone saw her, so she lit the fuse and waited for the magic to happen. The sparks lit up the area around her as the fuse slowly became shorter and shorter. Soon it was completely gone and the chemicals mixed with the flame created an odor that filled the room.

She covered her face tightly as she hoped and awaited for the guards to react. The smell made her eyes tear up as she silently gagged. Whatever was in that stink bomb it was powerful. Though the smell was almost worth it as Mal watched her plan unfold. It first started out with one guard commenting on the smell and eventually all of them were gagging, barely able to get a breath in. They get out of the building only to be surprised by their associates from outside hanging upside down from a cargo crane. They see the devious faces of Jay and Carlos as they are all slowly taken out one by one. Whether it was the effects of the stink bomb or the lifetime of malnutrition, those fourteen year old boys sure made quick work of those guards.

Mal sneered wickedly as she watched the boys almost play with those poor security guards. As always, her and her gang will come out on top. She ran over to a side door to let yet another reliable member of the VKs into the building. With a wave of blue hair, her long time friend and flirty heartbreaker, Evie, daughter of the Evil Queen, stepped into the docks.

"Oh god, Mal, what in the hell was in that stink bomb?" Evie gasped, that was not the first thing Mal expected to hear from her.

"Well don't ask me, the boys made it." Mal snickered as she sauntered over to the covered loot.

"Boys are so gross." Evie gagged as she plugged her nose.

"Oh really?" Mal saw a window of opportunity to tease her trusted ally, "if they're so gross then why are you constantly hooking up with them?"

"You really want to do this now?"

"I guess not, I was just wondering." Mal shrugged innocently; though both girls knew that her intentions were far from innocent.

Jay came into the docks holding Carlos in choke hold, Carlos was desperately trying to pry his arm away. Carlos was much different from the other VKs in the way that he showed fear when things got tough. None of them could even imagine how he could survive on his own without them. He would be the last person to betray his allies. Mal liked that about him. He was trustworthy in his own special way.

"Will you two focus?" Mal asked, clearly annoyed, "we have about ten minutes before the rest of the Isle realizes this stuff is unguarded."

"Don't worry, precious, it is guarded," Jay let go of Carlos as he stepped towards Mal and then flexed his muscles, "by these bad boys."

It should come to no surprise that Mal slapped Jay across the face for his goofing off.

"Don't ever call me that again." Mal sneered at him with fury in her eyes.

Strangely the other two were not afraid of Mal, in fact, they found it quite amusing. They laughed loudly as Mal's frustration grew.

"Did you bring the bags?" Mal turned towards Carlos.

"Yeah, right here." Carlos untied the cloth sacks that were attached to his back.

"Alright," Mal nods, "Evie, help me take these tarps off. Jay, go outside and check to see if anyone's coming."

"You got it." Jay jogs over to the door.

Mal and Evie removed the tarps to reveal several assortments of items. They were hard to make out at first but upon further inspection they realized it was a bunch of clothing fabric. Silk to be more precise.

"Oh my!" Evie gasped in excitement as she started pulling all of the material out of the boxes and bags.

"Awe, come on! I wanted something good!" Carlos whined as he stomped on the floor.

"The ship must have been headed for Auradon," Mal said, "Those filthy rich bastards."

"It's so soft; I never thought such a fabric existed!" Evie was over the moon about the find; the others however, were not so excited.

The kids looked through the rest of the loot and found some other, less valuable things. A compass, stale food, several coins of gold, and a washed out portrait of some old sea captain. They soon discovered that the ship was most likely from Agrabah; probably because most of the shipping crates had "Agrabah Trading Company" on them. All four of them quickly packed up as much as they could in the sacks that they brought. When they heard people coming, they slipped out the back door into the night. Mal lead them through the back alleyways in hopes of not being seen, they were fairly dangerous though especially at night. They ran fast with the stuffed bags slung across their shoulders as they make their way back to their special hidden hideout.

The trip was uneventful, aside from Carlos tripping and falling flat on his face, but the VKs make it back safely to their hideout before anyone realized the loot was gone. Needless to say, they felt pride in their victory. Carlos let out a big sigh of relief as he flopped down on the beat up, old couch they had against the wall. Evie began pulling all kinds of colorful silks trying to restrain her excitement.

Mal was just glad the heist was successful, she looked out onto the rest of the Isle as the cold night air blew against her face. A lot of things could have gone wrong. More than once has she's put the lives of her allies on the line. There's been a lot of decisions she's regretted and they still haunt her to this day. Jay sauntered over to Mal and rested his arms on the rail.

"Do you think they'll know it was us?" He asked her.

"It'll take them a while; which is why we'll have to get rid of everything before that happens," Mal explains, "I know Evie will resent me for it but we have to sell most of that silk."

"I'll try to find us a couple buyers," Jay says, "my dad has some connections."

"Thanks, Jay." Mal said, and though she'd never admit it; she really was thankful for everything he's done for her. Not just tonight but for the entire time they've known each pther.

"Hey, um," Jay spoke up, "you remember Uma right? Ursula's daughter."

"That little shrimp that works in a fish restaurant?"

"Yeah, word on the street is that she's forming her own gang." Jay said as he looked away from her. He did not want to see the reaction on her face.

Mal scoffed, "that little twerp couldn't get anyone to eat at her shitty restaurant, let alone form a gang with them."

"Well I heard she's been hanging around with Harry a lot lately," Jay said, "and Gil's not been around these parts for at least a week or two."

"That slimy little-" Mal had to cut herself off. The rage grew inside her like a fire, but she suppressed it as best she could, "she can't do that."

"What're you gonna do?" Jay asked, "you know she's going to come after your turf."

"I'd like to see her try," Mal said with a low growl, "I would love to put that shrimpy bitch in her place."

Jay smiled; he knew things always got interesting when Mal started talking like that. Mal turned quickly to go speak with the rest of her gang. There's one thing everyone on the Isle knows, you do not mess with Mal and her gang. You will end up begging for mercy in the end. Yet again someone is challenging the VKs and their power. Mal just can't stand being challenged. This story isn't just how Mal rose to the top, this is about how Mal crushed all that were beneath her.


End file.
